About

How much of Earth's atmosphere must we contaminate? How much of our lands and waters must we pollute? How much of our resources must we plunder, deplete? How many species must we ravage, despoil, extinguish? How many people must we degrade, deprive, destroy with toxic wastes and wars, before we learn to respect one another, to live in harmony on this planet, our Home?
"All living beings are brothers and sisters, nourished from the same source of life.." -- Thich Nhat Hanh

About Me

I was born in Eastern Europe during the height of the
Stalinist regime's reign of terror. Thus, I know what it is like to live under a repressive, dictatorial regime. The fear and terror -- as dissident friends and family members were tortured, imprisoned and some were executed -- is indelibly etched in my memory. That is the reason I have always been an ardent advocate of freedom, social justice, civil liberties, human rights and a voice of peace. The way I see it, war is morally wrong, regardless of who wages it, for whatever reason. No piece of land or commodity is worth the sacrifice of one human life. We are all members of the same race - the "human race" - and must learn to coexist peacefully. Our planet cannot sustain us much longer if we do not stop our wars, nukes, polluting, deforestation, and the wasteful, gluttonous consumption and depletion of our natural resources.

âA satisfyingly virulent, comical, absurd, deeply grieving true portrait of how things work today in the sleek factories of conglomerate book producers... A skillful novel of manners -- of very bad mannersâ

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Canadians who are concerned about our sovereignty would be well advised to read this disturbing article written by Maude Barlow:

While the media were busy obsessing over rumours of a budding romance between Condoleezza Rice and Peter MacKay last week, a more significant relationship was developing behind closed doors.

Away from the spotlight, from Sept. 12 to 14, in Banff Springs, Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day and Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor met with U.S. and Mexican government officials and business leaders to discuss North American integration at the second North American Forum.

According to leaked documents, the guest list included such prominent figures as U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Mexican Secretary of Public Security Eduardo Medina Mora and Canadian Forces chief General Rick Hillier, although we have no final confirmation of attendees....

I'm from Texas and am happy to notice that at least some people in Canada are noticing what is happening with the move toward a "North American Union". Hardly any Americans seem to be aware of this issue, even though the U.S. government has some basic information on it at www.spp.gov. A much deeper preview of what the global movers and shakers have in mind for Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. is in the white paper published by the Council on Foreign Relations titled "Building a North American Community" - the link is http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/NorthAmerica_TF_final.pdf. See also a key CFR official's testimony on the subject at http://www.cfr.org/publication/8173/north_american_community_approach_to_security.html. Not that I have anything against Canada and Mexico - totally the contrary! - it's just that any future union should be discussed in the open and be the result of a vote of all of the affected people, instead of the result of backroom deals by faceless government and corporate powerbrokers.Tom in Texas

Tom in Texas, thanks for your comment and the links. I fully agree with you. Any talks of a union between the three countries must indeed be done in an open debate and not by secret, backroom deals by government and corporate powerbrokers who do not represent the people, and do not have our best interests at heart. Their motives are highly suspect!

For more info from a Canadian perspective, please check out the Council of Canadians website, and further articles by Maude Barlow.

One other thing I neglected to mention in my previous post: far be it from me to tell others what to do, but if I were a Canadian or Mexican, I would certainly demand of my government that any move toward unification with the U.S. be delayed until the current toxic regime there is removed, along with its recent dictatorial statutes, such as the sadly-misnamed "Patriot Acts", the Detainee Treatment Act, and the just-signed Military Commissions Act, all disposing of long-standing freedoms and standards of decency in the name of a "war on terror". What country in its right mind would want any kind of union with a country whose current leaders seem bent on emulating Germany in the 1930s?:-\Tom in Texas